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Great post Paula!
That was earily similar to my Green Associate exam content, especially the refrigerant part. I was surprised at all the refrigerant questions, and the in-depth detail of the questions. Definately spend time on the refrigerant chart and referenced standard "The Treatment by LEED of the Environmental Impact of HVAC Refrigerants".

I passed without the BD+C Reference guide. I bought practice tests and a book by Michelle Cottrell (showed up on Amazon when I searched for LEED Green Associate) then I got stressed 3 days before the test and bought the USGBC Study Guide which didn't really have new information just some new quiz Q+A. I think one of the quiz sets I got was from Studio 4 LLC. I'm not affiliated with any of those study materials.

When I was studying for the LEED AP O+M test I'd put little notes on things like cleaners/pest control products to remind me which credits were associated with those products (easier to memorize than just words on a page). I also read the credit language out loud and recorded it using my iPhone and would play it while I was in the car... so I never wasted a minute when I could be studying!

quizes are the most important I think because they show you where you are weak and where you might have misinterpretted the credit language.

I agree on the abbreviations portion.
It got me rather confused at the beginning of my exam preparations for LEED exams!

chatted briefly with a 0 waste contractor in my area about getting into what he does and he said the 1st thing to do would be getting a LEED green associates. What makes getting a LEED green associates so important and what kind of opportunities does it open for you? I really want to work in sustainable construction and i'd like to know if going through with this is really the right choice for me.

what is the single tiny exception of the CFC´S in HVAC?
am confused! haha it is that there is no win-win solution?

If the building is connected to an existing chilled water system... you can demonstrate that phasing out the CFCs is not feasible. That must be done by a third party... if the simple payback period is longer than 10 years then the phase out is considered not economically feasible.

another good tip that wasn't mentioned here:

Make a 1 page "cheat sheet." Copy this sheet over and over again.

Then when you get into the test you have 10 minutes to "practice using the computer." For those of us born after 1960, we probably don't need to practice using the computer mouse. Take that time to instead "dump" all the information you know onto the piece of paper/marker board they give you at the testing center. ASHRAE 90.1 = Energy, ASHRAE 62.1 = ventilation, HFCs have ODP of ~0 but high GWP, etc. That can help you keep your cool when you get asked some question 'cause you can just refer to your "cheat sheet"

Hi Tristan,
I agree with the comment about keeping comments non-proprietary. One thing I value about LEEDuser is exactly that rule. That being said, I would ask that the reference to a private company in Paula's post above be removed, as there are many companies that provide good practice question. By the way, in case people haven't heard, USGBC has posted the official information on the sunset date for the current version of the exam (based on LEED v2009 material). The deadline to take the exam is "before June 2014" which I guess means by May 31, 2014. Good luck everyone!

yeeeih am a LEED NOW :D thanks to you I was able to organize my self to study alone, very helpful info & tips you rock!

Congratulations, Yoseika!

Everything OK, but for one detail, i started studying 6 months before the examination and i concentrated only on the list of documents on: http://www.usgbc.org/credentials/leed-ga/prepare , and i also reached an excellent score, what i could confirm is that the test does not go beyond these documents, i mean any additional knowledge is not bad for anyone but i read your article three days before the test and i got really discouraged because i thought i still would need to master the whole reference guide content, but it was not so. If you only concentrate on understanding the material indicated by USGBC you will surely succed.

If your intention is to go on to the next step and become a LEED AP, then you must master oll of the Reference Guide.

Thanks for your comments, Luis! I agree that the test doesn't go beyond those documents. However...just reading the rating systems isn't enough. You need to be very familiar with the referenced standards within them in order to succeed at the test. The Reference Guide isn't the only way to accomplish this, but it's a reliable way.

Thanks for sharing. I think LEED GA is a registered trademark by another organization. That is why the USGBC and GBCI is not using it.

Hello everyone
I have decided to take the exam just before the system changes to V4.
I ha a couple of questions:
1- Comparing the specifications of 2009 and V4 , it seems the latter is much more simplified. Now I am wondering if I should just reschedule and take the V4?
2- If I should go for 2009 exam , I have one month to prepare. Are all the references (14 I believe) equally important or I can spend more time in few and just flip through the rest?
Thanks a lot LEED community for your advice
Cheers.

hello evereryone ! I am looking for a good guidebook leed v4. Anyone can recommend me something- which contains the info about the v 4 system?

The v4 User Guide is a good place to start, you can download it for free here: http://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-v4-user-guide

Hello Paula, and everyone! Thank you, Paula, for this very helpful article and tips! (I just signed-in today.) :) I plan to take the LEED Green Associate exam, hopefully, this year. This is really a helpful site.

Yoseika, congratulations! I really want to follow your "self-study" route. What were the materials that you had used and how long did you prepare for it? I will also try to check if I can email you directly.

Thanks, everyone! Keep the tips coming! Happy weekend!

Cheers,
Mei